Epson Inkjet into Storage

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Guest

I have an Epson Stylus pro XL that I use as backup for when my laser
printer packs up. Now I need to put it into mothballs again. It was
not used for 4 years and I was surprised when it kicked into life
eventually with new cartridges. What is the best way of keeping the
cartridges nice and fluid if unused for a long time, apart from using
it and cleaning it every month........
 
Until a couple of years ago, when I retired, I took care of our seven dozen
Epson inkjets at school. During the 10 weeks of summer vacation I had each
printer put into a plastic trash bag (expelling most of the air) with a
moist sponge, and tied with a rubber band, then placed in a closet, or
covered with a sheet. Over ten years I never lost one due to clogging.
Your situation for storage though sounds as if it would stretch into
several years. Epson says an unopened cartridge has a lifespan of 2 years
and just 6 months when its placed into the printer. Reasoning for the 6
months is oxidation, fluid vehicle evaporation and thickening of the ink,
which can cause a head clog. So, if you intend to keep your printer tucked
away for a year or more I would be removing the ink cartridges entirely and
replacing them with a cleaning cartridge for each color. Once the cleaning
cartridges are in the printer I would do enough printing as to get the
cleaning fluid to entirely replace the ink inside the printhead. At that
point I would use the same procedure that I use for storing the printers for
the summer vacation.On the other hand you simply put your printer away last
time and then took it out after 4 years and it worked. Sounds pretty
amazing. Maybe it would work again if you were lucky.

P.S. If you wanted to make your own cleaning cartridges fill them with 90%
isopropyl alcohol / 10% ammonia combination.
 
[email protected] said:
I have an Epson Stylus pro XL that I use as backup for when my laser
printer packs up. Now I need to put it into mothballs again. It was
not used for 4 years and I was surprised when it kicked into life
eventually with new cartridges. What is the best way of keeping the
cartridges nice and fluid if unused for a long time, apart from using
it and cleaning it every month........
Click to expand...

Well, "The Best" way is to keep it in store, then give some money to the
store owner to exchange for a FRESH one.
 
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